New Mexico's Spaceport America Is Opening For Tours, No Blastoffs Yet

If you’re patiently awaiting the launch of Virgin Galactic, there’s something new to keep you entertained for a little bit. Bulldozers and cranes at Spaceport America in Las Cruces, New Mexico have been moving dirt and rocks around to get things ready for rockets, shuttles, and spaceships. Things have been progressing so well that public tours will begin in December—looks like a great holiday gift.

The tours will require a snazzy hardhat, because of course, it’s a work zone and they don’t want any lawsuits injuries. Visitors will learn all about the history of New Mexico from conquistadors to the state’s future in outer space tourism. The highlight of the tour will be to see the runway and the vertical launch pad up close and personal. Maybe you'll even be able to add your initials if the concrete is still wet.

Right now these are all the details that we have, but Spaceport America is supposedly going to reveal more juicy tidbits later this month. We want to know how much the tour will cost and if there will be a gift shop. We do know that the runway should be completed by late summer 2010, and the rest of the facility will get its final touches in 2011. For now, the spaceport will keep calling up Virgin Galactic, Lockheed Martin, and UP Aerospace, among others, as it attempts to woo them into using their desert facility.